BBC to BitTorrent old shows

In a bid to expand its viewing base and make old programming available to more people, the BBC has decided to release some of its popular older shows over BitTorrent.

The content offered will be available in high-definition and includes classics such as comedy series Red Dwarf and Fawlty Towers, popular sci-fi series Doctor Who, and the more recent hit The League of Gentlemen. Prices for individual episodes have yet to be released, and all content will have DRM enabled to stop unauthorized copying from happening.

A distribution solution has been set up with Azureus, creators of the popular java bittorrent software. The company recently launched Zudeo, a channel for distribution of hi-def content that sits on top of Azureus. All BBC content will be made available through Zudeo.

MATTHEW'S OPINION
The move to distribution over the Internet and BitTorrent is a slow one, but it is gaining speed. That the BBC now trust the technology and the protection enough to release content over it is a big step and should encourage others to at least look at the distribution solution.

The content it is making available is great, but I would like to see much more go up there, including the wealth of documentaries the BBC has in its archives. The company also currently makes available its daily news shows for playback on an iPod or similar device. It seems likely these will be seen on Zudeo as well.

USER COMMENTS 4 comment(s)

It should be free(10:01am EST Fri Dec 22 2006)Since these shows were made with money from british TV licences they should be free to anyone with a TV licence, they're charging us twice for the same programs, and then expecting us to provide the bandwidth by uploading to other users, a bit of a rip off. – by MarMs

Re: MarMs(11:01am EST Fri Dec 22 2006)I agree with you on that, but as a freeloader from the other side of the pond I wouldn't mind paying for the shows. I thought the BBC was running a restricted download service of their own that did allow BBC licencees only to get a hold of shows for free. I sort of remember that from a while ago. – by NotNormal23224

BBC Radio are free and archived for 7 days.(1:33pm EST Fri Dec 22 2006)NotNormal23224, I think you are thinking about BBC radio.

I have been listening to BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 7. The programs on BBC Radio are free to listen and many BBC Radio programs are archived up to 7 days.

– by bugmenever

DRM(8:11pm EST Fri Dec 22 2006)I'm interested by this statement:

“all content will have DRM enabled to stop unauthorized copying from happening.”

what kind of “DRM” am I going to have to overcome to burn the content to DVD? That's why I do bitTorrent!If the movie (or cd) is bad, then I don't buy it and feel good not having wasted money. If it's worth it, I'll go grab the content at the store. – by notsicknotwell